Arms of Foratuna

The Arms of Foratuna are the priesthood of the Mother Church of Ororr, based at the holy citadel of Foratuna. Typically this means the Meisinn and Messek, the supreme spiritual arms of the church said to be in direct communication with the Mother. They do not play an active role in governance, but their opinion on spiritual matters is decisive and they effectively have the ability to veto any policy considered “against the word of the Prophet”.

The Mesekk are all the priests and priestesses of the Mother at Foratuna. They run and administer the temple, perform the rituals and holy dances, and officiate ceremonies for pilgrims during the Shouft. They are also responsible for manufacturing religious devices, objects of holy magicplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigMagic

In common terms, magic is the art of producing a desired outcome through occult means. Various arts are described as magical, from common street illusionists, village herbalists, and rituals for the intercession of deities. However, true magic is the art and science of elemental mastery, harnessing elemental creatures and instructing them to perform simple or complex tasks..

Mesekk are raised at Foratuna from childhood, either as the offspring of temple priests, or given to the temple as orphans, selected as bright children from orphanages throughout Ororr.

As children they serve as acolytes, living and being educated at Foratuna. They are free to leave Foratuna when they come of age, but if they choose to become initiates, they join the lowest order of Mesekk.

Technically the Mesekk have a “closed rank”, meaning they are all of equal status to outsiders with the courtesy title of Holy One. However throughout their lives they undergo a series of physical, spiritual and intellectual tests. Only once they reach a qualifying rank are they seen outside the temple enclosures, where they become journeymen, sent on missions in groups of three, carrying messages or spiritual help to different parts of Ororr.

Middle and low ranking Mesekk are required to be sexually celibate for most of the year, and live in gender-separated cloisters. Their sexual energy is released during rituals of fertility, performed privately in the Temple enclosure. Most Mesekk are the children of such holy sexual unions.

The most senior, who have passed the most serious tests, are placed in line for appointment to the Meissin. To ascend they must pass a final, and most dangerous, test of initiation, although many waive this and remain at the highest rank of Mesekk. There is seen to be no shame in not taking the final test.

The Meisinn - or ‘The Twelve’ - are the twelve hierarchs at Foratuna who are in supreme, direct communion with the Mother. The Meisinn are the source of supreme religious authority in the land. They are addressed as “Most Holy” and are appointed for life after passing a dangerous trial of initiation, involving spiritual devotion, courage, knowledge and faith. They are the ultimate point of appeal in religious trials, and may veto laws passed by the Kritarchy, although in practice these powers are very seldom used.

In truth they are theosophists: theo-sorcerors with knowledge of the true nature of magick and deity. Each of them has a ‘Chorus’ - a host of Mother-bound sylphs who are pre-educated with a set of ritual responses, as well as being able to carry out ‘sequents’, complex chains of commands. The Mesekk make all the miraculous devices used by the church – amulets, charms, weapons and so on – but it is the Twelve give the devices power, in rituals performed in the Tower. The Twelve are responsible for the ritual of the Investiture of the Nine, an annual ceremony held in the High Sanctum, the highest formal chamber of the Tower. The Nine, as well as being the supreme civil executive of the Church-State, are the holders of the keys to the nine seals, between the Goddess-stone and the sky. This is a deliberate separation of powers enshrined in tradition by the Prophet: the Meisinn cannot access the full power of the Goddess without the agreement of the Nine who hold the keys, and vice versa.